Germantown, MD Birth Injury Lawyer

When a birth injury affects your child, Germantown families need immediate legal guidance since your child’s future is at stake. Parents experience genuine heartbreak watching their newborn suffer from preventable medical errors while facing the stark financial challenge of providing specialized care. A Germantown birth injury attorney from Schochor, Staton, Goldberg and Cardea, P.A. offers the knowledgeable and compassionate representation your family deserves.

Our attorneys have secured substantial compensation for families throughout Montgomery County whose children have suffered birth injuries due to medical negligence. We handle the delicate legal aspects of your case while you focus on what matters most—your child’s health and your family’s well-being.

Common Causes of Birth Injuries and Medical Negligence

Birth injuries in Germantown medical facilities often result from specific forms of medical negligence that violate accepted standards of care. Understanding these potential causes helps families recognize when they may have grounds for legal action.

Fetal Monitoring Failures

Continuous electronic fetal monitoring during labor provides crucial information about a baby’s condition. When healthcare providers misinterpret data, ignore warning signs, or fail to communicate concerning patterns, the consequences can be severe.

Oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) during labor or delivery can occur within minutes, leading to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, or permanent intellectual disabilities.

Medical studies confirm that proper monitoring allows for timely intervention when a baby shows signs of distress. In Germantown hospitals, monitoring errors typically occur during shift changes, in understaffed units, or when practitioners lack proper training in interpreting fetal heart tracings.

Emergency C-Section Delays

When complications arise during childbirth, timely cesarean delivery often becomes necessary to prevent injury. When there is undue delay, babies may experience prolonged oxygen deprivation, resulting in permanent brain damage.

Common reasons for these dangerous situations in Germantown facilities include inadequate staffing during nights and weekends, poor communication between nurses and physicians, operating room availability issues, and hesitation to intervene despite clear warning signs. These can transform what should be a joyous occasion into a lifetime of challenges for the affected child and family.

Delivery Tool Injuries

When labor progresses slowly, or complications arise, Germantown obstetricians sometimes employ forceps or vacuum extractors to assist delivery. While these instruments are appropriate in certain situations, their improper use frequently causes severe birth injuries.

Forceps misuse can fracture an infant’s skull, damage facial nerves, or cause intracranial bleeding. Vacuum extractors applied with excessive force or duration can lead to scalp injuries, subgaleal hematomas, or brain hemorrhages. These instrument-related injuries often result in permanent conditions like Erb’s palsy (brachial plexus injury), facial paralysis, or developmental delays.

Medical standards require proper training and careful technique when using these tools. When doctors apply excessive force or use instruments in contraindicated situations, they fall below the standard of care expected of medical professionals in Montgomery County.

Maternal and Fetal Infection Management

Infections during pregnancy or childbirth require prompt identification and treatment. Group B streptococcus, chorioamnionitis, and urinary tract infections can all be transmitted to the baby during delivery if not properly managed.

When healthcare providers fail to conduct appropriate screening tests, misinterpret results, or delay antibiotic treatment, newborns may develop meningitis, sepsis, or pneumonia.

These infections can cause permanent neurological damage, hearing or vision loss, and developmental disabilities. In Germantown medical facilities, infection-related birth injuries often result from protocol violations, poor documentation of maternal symptoms, or inadequate communication between prenatal providers and delivery teams.

Medication Errors During Labor and Delivery

Medication mistakes during childbirth pose serious risks to both mother and baby. According to the International Medication Safety Network (IMSN), the risk of medication errors is increased in pediatrics and neonatology for many reasons, such as lack of pediatric formulations, dosage forms and guidelines, and confusion between adult and pediatric intake.

IMSN explained that a medication error in a child is often compounded by the need for additional calculations to determine the dose. Many medicines prescribed for children are only available as adult dose forms, and so sometimes, complex manipulations are necessary to prepare doses for very small babies.

Germantown families trust healthcare providers to employ staff who demonstrate the highest competence in their calculation skills, but errors occur with alarming frequency. Double-checking systems, proper documentation, and electronic medical record safeguards can prevent most errors, making these mistakes particularly egregious examples of medical negligence.